Sandoz, merge with Ciba-Geigy

The three Swiss companies, Ciba, Geigy (which merged with Ciba in 1970), and Sandoz, had made no attempt to enter petrochemicals. Ciba s strength remained its prewar organic chemical lines, particularly dyes and pharmaceuticals, while Geigy pioneered in insecticides after the commercializing of DDT in 1940, and expanded its agricultural chemical business. Sandoz focused more on pharmaceuticals. 

Cell division began in the Swiss based chemical industry in 1995 with Sandoz. It spun off its specialty chemicals business under the name of Clariant, which later merged with Hoechst s specialty chemicals activities. In 1996 we saw the merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz to form Novartis, which focused exclusively on pharmaceuticals and crop protection agents. This was followed by the spin-off of Ciba specialty chemicals, as it no longer fitted in with the life sciences concept. 

Most accounts delineating the history of the Swiss chemical industry have concentrated on those enterprises that ultimately became large corporations, or merged with them, namely Ciba(-Geigy), Sandoz, and Roche. Their origins were quite different from the smaller firms. Their historiography indeed requires a... 

---